Droopy, thin, floppy leaf phal keiki

[amarin28]

My poor baby! The leaves are droopy, so thin, and so floppy. BUT its growing new, healthy-looking, thick with bright green tipped roots. I potted this keiki, along with one other, in orchid bark medium. Its in the same window as its sibling. Leaves are dark green. No new leaves since I separated it from mama.
I thought I read somewhere that sometimes keikis just don't survive off the mama plant. I hope this isn't the case. Should I repot in a more sturdy medium? All my phals are in a medium bark, I water them thoroughly 1x/wk outside in the fresh air and they seem to be doing fine in my south-facing window. The rest of them are sprouting new leaves and lots of healthy roots.

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by amarin28

BUT its growing new, healthy-looking, thick with bright green tipped roots. I potted this keiki, along with one other, in orchid bark medium.

That's good news. I am assuming you removed a keiki from the parent plant, and then you potted the keiki ....... and then a fair bit of time had passed, and this individual keiki is growing new roots, right? That will be a good sign if that is the case.

[estación seca]

Phals don't like to dry out for any length of time, especially when they are small. You live in a warm part of Los Angeles; once a week is probably not frequent enough for watering. Water as soon as the medium is nearly dry. If the bark is large enough that you can run water at high flow through the pot and it never pools, you can probably water ever day or two.

Oh - you don't mention what kind of light it gets through the window. Phals don't ever need any direct sun on their leaves, not even through a window. A small plant recently separated would be even less able to tolerate this. With larger plants you can often get away with it, but they grow and flower better in lower light. Some other orchids prefer high light, but not Phals.

[amarin28]

Originally Posted by SouthPark

That's good news. I am assuming you removed a keiki from the parent plant, and then you potted the keiki ....... and then a fair bit of time had passed, and this individual keiki is growing new roots, right? That will be a good sign if that is the case.

Yes, both Keikis are growing lots of healthy roots. I do think I overpotted them, but that would just mean they'll take longer to spike when the time comes, correct? How long normally do keikis take to enter bloom? (I know it won;t be till winter/spring)

---------- Post added at 09:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:42 AM ----------

Originally Posted by estación seca

Phals don't like to dry out for any length of time, especially when they are small. You live in a warm part of Los Angeles; once a week is probably not frequent enough for watering. Water as soon as the medium is nearly dry. If the bark is large enough that you can run water at high flow through the pot and it never pools, you can probably water ever day or two.

Oh - you don't mention what kind of light it gets through the window. Phals don't ever need any direct sun on their leaves, not even through a window. A small plant recently separated would be even less able to tolerate this. With larger plants you can often get away with it, but they grow and flower better in lower light. Some other orchids prefer high light, but not Phals.

They are in bright but filtered light- it is never direct. They other phals (and my one Onc) seem happy there- throwing out roots and Onc bloomed again. I think it may be the water issue. The bark really doesn't hold water at all- should I add sphagnum? (not a fan, but if it helps with water retention?) I could move them to a shelf opposite the window- it would just be filtered light from 2 windows 8-10 ft away there. Thank you!

[estación seca]

The very best situation for Phal roots is what they are accustomed to in nature growing on a branch in a warm, humid area: Warm all the time, exposed to air all the time and damp all the time. Growing in a pot in a house means compromises.

Most people posting here with problem Phals have them in medium that doesn't have enough air at the roots, due to one or more common factors. The roots die and the plant dies. The roots don't die because they are too wet; they die because there is no air. Phal roots like being moist and green all the time, if they have air circulation.

Choice of medium will come down to how often you are willing to water. If you can water every day, put your plants into medium to large particles of bark, LECA, pumice or perlite. That will ensure large air spaces between the chunks, and the roots will be happy. With these large air spaces you could water many times per day and not risk suffocating the roots. If I didn't have to work and ignore my collection for days at a time I would probably do something like this.

If you don't want to water every day, you can use smaller particles for the medium, but you will have to be more careful watering. We tell people to let their Phals dry between watering because most people grow Phals in medium to small bark. It is vital to preserve air flow to the roots. When you water a plant in small particles, water occupies the spaces between the particles for a while. If the plant absorbs the water, or it evaporates, air spaces are again present. But if the plant isn't using much water, or not much evaporates, there will be no air for the roots. They might rot.